How to Destroy the World Biosphere & everything in it in 2 Easy Lessons

Man has the capacity for great good & great evil. Human beings have been given treasures beyond compare, a world of huge diversity & beauty. Carefully husbanded & equally shared it should support life for all the billions of people who inhabit our world.

Perversely, we are destroying it, ourselves & our Biosphere. Wars, poverty & famine are everyday news items. But it is the wanton & knowing destruction through our pollution of our world which is really frightening & heart rending. This is what has the capacity to ultimately destroy all of us.

Watch "Drowning in Plastic" and tell me I'm wrong.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0bmbn47

Watch "Fashions Dirty Secret" and tell me I'm wrong.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0bn6034/stacey-dooley-investigates-fashions-dirty-secrets

 

 

We knew smoking kills & we did something about it.

We knew drink driving kills & we did something about it.

Both came down to individuals' choice to change behaviour & to government legislation. It worked, so don't tell me there is nothing you personally can do. I believe we have reached the tipping point. There is no time to prevaricate. Comprehensive action needs to happen NOW.

Our desire for more & more "stuff", for constant change, multiple choice & self gratification has led to this. The most uninhabited & inacessible parts of the world are now contaminated by our demands & the recklessness of multinational companies. Plastic is literally everywhere, the furthest poles & the deepest oceans. Rivers are so contaminated they kill. The air we breathe is beyond safe levels.

I've got a limited time left, but my grandchildren could live for 70 or more years. What in gods name is their legacy from us. A toxic world - Complete self destruction. And it won't take anything like 70 years.

We have more access to information than anyone ever has. We cannot pretend we didn't know. We are a throw away society & we are doing just that - Throwing away our world & everything in it.

We must be completely mad.

The NHS, Ageing & Me

I've just checked in my diary - This year I have had a lot of private medical appointments:

• 19 with my Osteopath for pain
• 4 with a Hypnotherapist also for pain
• 4 with my Podiatrist
• 6 with my Dentist, routine & a crown
• 6 with stairlift companies, which means I know I won't have to move house.

A total of  37 appointments which have cost goodness knows how much money. An average consult would be about £50, some are a lot more, Dentists for example. So I'm very lucky I can afford it. Many people can't.

I've also had 22 appointments with various NHS medics, Consultants, GP's, Nurse Practitioners, Physio's...

So, in total that is 59 appointments in 41 weeks to date. Easily more than one a week on average. Occasionally I have had as many as 4 appointments in one week. It feels as if my life has been taken over by my medical conditions. When you include travelling time it certainly takes up a lot of time more or less every week.

I take 9 pills a day, which are free. I've no idea how much that costs. An appointment with a GP apparently costs the NHS £22.60. I think out patients appointments cost £120 according to the 2016/17 NHS Reference Costs data:-
https://improvement.nhs.uk/documents/1972/1_-_Reference_costs_publication_VSnAQ5x.pdf

My point is that having spent my life being a "low maintenance woman" I am now anything but. Keeping me well maintained & "on the road" is getting very expensive, both to me & the NHS. It isn't going to get any cheaper or less time consuming either. Swimming 4 - 5 times a week to keep my range of movement & mobility is another regular time consumer, although very enjoyable too.

I am not alone. My demographic, the "baby boomers" are alive, relatively well & well off & living longer. In 2016 there were 5million people in their 70's in the UK. Survival rates to 70 have increased to 78%. We are set to cost the country quite a lot of money because the NHS has the means to keep us alive. Whether the quality of life is worth that cost is another matter.

As for me I'm grateful for a NHS notionally free at the point of need to everyone. In my experience that is getting ever more difficult to provide. I have seen the cracks in the system. I have also seen the Politicians tinkering with creeping privatisation & the difficulties experienced by hard pressed medics.

If the NHS is to continue with it's unique USP into the 21st century it needs both a radical overhaul & more money.

Tourism - The Benefits?

In the interests of balance I decided to write this although I'm not the BBC so I'm allowed to be biased!

The main benefits of tourism I can see are the increase in GDP for the destination country & the increase in jobs for local people.

The economic & general benefits of income from tourism could be:-

• Generating foreign exchange.
• Creating new employment opportunities & growing the service sector.
• Stimulating trade and entrepreneurship – especially in small business sectors.
• Developing infrastructure and services e.g. new roads and airports.
• Increasing regional development – particularly in isolated areas.
• Generating greater collection of taxes and revenues.
• Investing income in developing education, health, clean water, sanitation & recreational facilities.
• Protecting natural attractions & local culture.
• Providing opportunities for recreation.
• Encouraging better international relations & cultural exchange. 

The trick is to ensure that income from tourism provides these benefits without the destructive downside in my last Blog. This requires properly elected, democratic, Governments with the best interests of their people at heart to utilise the income properly. Sadly in my experience in Africa, the Middle East & Asia those Governments are thin on the ground. Corruption is rife. The people benefit relatively little from the influx of hoards of tourists & their cash. Most tourists are pitifully unaware of the best way to ensure that their sterling & dollars get into the hands of the people who need it.

So, when you get down to it, we, the relatively wealthy tourists, need to make sure we are better informed. We need to make the effort to support small local businesses directly. For example, instead of staying in your huge "all inclusive" hotel, stay in a small local one. There's nothing wrong with 3*. Don't stay ghettoised eating every meal in 4 or 5*  internaltional restaurants. Be brave, leave your big hotel & eat in the delightful local restaurant where you will get fresh, proper, local food,. which is also usually very cheap.

You watch all the travel documentaries - So put what you learn into practice.

The Price of Tourism - A Burden or a Benefit?

I have travelled a lot, but I find myself questioning the validity of Tourism more & more.  Almost all human actions have good & bad repercussions, often things we haven't anticipated. Holidays are important in our busy lives, but I do think we need to be aware of the possible consequences of our actions. I can see it when I go into Oxford, which is literally swamped with tourists & I can see it when I travel abroad.

Tourism puts huge stress on land use & environment leading to:-

• Soil erosion & damage to landscape
• Increased pollution, litter & vandalism
• Increased water use resulting in lowering of the water table
• Habitat loss & impact on endangered species
• Fires
• Traffic congestion  & air quality

There are also a financial issues:-

• Local goods can become expensive because tourists will pay more
• Tipping becomes expected & disproportionately high in comparison to wages
• Changes in the local population's relationship to material goods
• Higher living costs
• Loss of local businesses
• A high proportion of tourism wealth does not filter down to local communities, but goes to big multinational companies.

 Sociological changes:-

• Erosion of local culture 
• Acceptance of "Western" mores which may not be appropriate
• Conflict due to the above

Our desire for more authentic and challenging experiences results in our ever increasing desire to go to more remote destinations, to the few remaining pristine and natural environments left on the planet. Our actions & presence can destroy the things which made tourism develop & flourish in the first place.

Eventually tourism constructs a huge superstructure & infastructure to meet it's needs - hotels, restaurants, shops, roads, water & power supply. The destination develops, more tourists arrive. Their impacts increase accordingly.

There is a huge demand for water. Rivers can be altered, excessively extracted, and polluted by the demands of tourists. Noise & light pollution increase, disturbing wildlife and altering behavior.  Generators provide power & increase noise & pollution. An increase in food and drink consumption creates waste, much of which is not biodegradable.Waste disposal is an issue in places which do not have the sophisticated methods that we are used to in the West.

Tourists can be toxic to both people & places.

 

 https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2018/05/tourism-four-times-worse-planet-previously-believed

 

Charity Giving, Philanthropy & Volunteering.

I have been asked to do a Blog on the above from the perspective of a donor & volunteer. I believe the two go very much hand in hand. Sometimes money isn't the best way to give support - skills, experience & expertise may achieve more. So being prepared to give time as well as money is important.

For years I have felt very priveleged in being relatively well off in comparison to so much of the world. Also having had a very good, free, education, which opened doors to that finacial freedom. In turn that gave me the ability to travel extensively & often independently to very different cultures. When you are able to see, first hand, just how much you take for granted, I don't understand how anyone can ignore the impetus to share with the less fortunate.

Decision made - how & what do you give? Orthodox Jews give 10% of their income. Muslims give 2.5%. Christians apparently decide for themselves what, if anything, to give.

Money is the easiest in some ways. Everyone in the UK is faced with a myriad charities asking for money, in various ways, every day. Some of the demands are more acceptable than others. I never give to chuggers, or paid people who knock on my door. I don't tend to give to the huge international charities who have a very big infrastructure of admin people & managers to support - Except when there is a big disaster which necessitates the organisation & networks they have in place.

I give to small, niche, charities. I have particular charitable areas I support - Education, Women, Ecology, Health, Homelessness, Hunger, Refugees....

I do my research. I check out the financials - https://www.charityfinancials.com/marketing.php
https://www.charitychoice.co.uk/charities  I talk to people who work in the charity sector & get their advice.

I have a portfolio of monthly direct debits which I have added to over the years instead of sending Christmas cards & giving presents, other than to my immediate small family. I have also started to give a no strings attached, bigger annual lump sum, to one or two charities. I work on the principle that the charity should know best where the money should go. Most of my money will go to charity when I die & my financial advisor & accountant both suggested that it might be nice to actually begin to see what my money can do whilst I am still around. I discovered that there are actually tax incentives to doing this as another benefit!

I want to be personally involved too. So I have volunteered for a month in Nepal, teaching in a "Bamboo Schol". I have also worked in Malawi for a month writing a training programme for Branch Managers who are at the chalk face of distributing small loans to women to set up small businesses. Currently there is a possibility I may go out to South Sudan to help with an education charity & work in Kenya with a Trust set up to help Masai tribespeople. I feel I get much more from these experiences than I give, but I would only do this if there was a proper job for me to do utilising my skill set & experience. "Poverty Tourism" is not what I am about. Philanthropists receive from giving.
https://www.livemint.com/Consumer/r6LCqFBB1nipSbQ2Ee3lmM/The-soft-power-of-charity.html

Any way of working with or for people who are less fortunate should be carefully thought through, whether it is here at home or abroad. I think donors & volunteers have a huge responsibility to be well informed & considerate. Intervention should not be interfering, however good the intentions. The ways of the West are not always the right ways or the only ways. A helping hand does not necessarily involve a bag full of money - small interventions are often the most effective.

Charities have a responsibility too. They need to nurture their donors in this age of austerity. They need to keep them well informed & find out everything they have to offer, not just financial help.